Prashant Ruia, Essar Steel Ltd's managing director, said on Tuesday that demand from developing economies will continue to drive the global steel industry in future, with growth in China, Russia and India leading the way.
Ruia was delivering the highlight speech at the 22nd Annual Steel Success Strategies Conference in Sheraton Tower Hotel in New York. Indian steel industry today has a capacity of about 50 million tons and has a demand for about 45 million tons a year, he said.
But the demand is expected to increase more than four times to 200 million tons because of the country's rapid economic growth.
'Is this a blip or a bubble? I wish I had a crystal ball. But we at Essar feel this looks sustainable,' Ruia said.
The two-day conference sponsored by the American Metal Market and World Steel Dynamics is being attended by about 1,000 participants, most of them from the industry. Lakshmi Narayan Mittal, president of ArcelorMittal, is slated to address the conference on the concluding day.
ArcelorMittal hosted a welcome reception for the delegates Monday evening at the Empire Ball Room of Sheraton.
Ruia said that the current wave of global mergers and acquisitions will hedge against the sharp swings the industry has experienced in the past and maintain its profitability.
With global growth expected to continue, Essar plans $7 billion expansion, including a 2-million-ton slab plant at the site of recently-acquired Minnesota Steel Industries LLC, 4-million-ton hot-strip mill in Vietnam and the expansion of capacity at an Indian mill to 10 million tons from 4 million tons a year.
